


The news of cosmonautics

by orphan_account



Series: Space stuff [15]
Category: Space RPF
Genre: News, translated from the Czech
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 09:28:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22430671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Series: Space stuff [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1224371





	1. SpaceX launches for the first time

_ September 2,2012 _

  
SpaceX does not need to be introduced in any lengthy way. It is one of the companies that participate in NASA's COTS program, which allows private companies to compete for ISS supplies. SpaceX is probably one of the companies that remained in the “finals” as far as possible. She was the first to launch a spacecraft into orbit and land with it back on the water.Their ship is called Dragon, and its first three-hour flight completed in December 2010. The carrier served the most powerful missile SpaceX Falcon9.

Two more screening flights followed, called COTS Demo 1 and COTS Demo 2, the demo in the title indicates that it is a test flight, COTS is a designation under which program the ship will fly. However, after successfully testing the Falcon9 and unexpectedly very successful first flight of the Dragon, SpaceX decided to move faster. She decided to skip the Demo 2 flight, which was supposed to arrive at a safe distance to the ISS, test all systems, and land again without being connected. On the second flight, the ship was now supposed to join the ISS straight away, of course, with all the systems audits planned for the Demo2 flight, but these tests were to take place on the flight to the ISS before joining.

This bold move began to be criticized by the Russian side, which wanted to maintain all procedures, including one test flight. Eventually, however, both NASA and the Russian side decided to allow two flights in one.

COTS Demo flight 2 + 3 after several delays and one interrupted take-off came in 22. 5. 2012 at 9:44 CEST. The Falcon9 rocketed the Dragon into orbit without hesitation. This was followed by a series of ignition and system checks that had to be accomplished without error to allow the ship to contact the ISS on this flight. All planned procedures and screening, which, among other things, simulated the failure of several jets and the subsequent ability of the ship to be able to keep track, ended up in the end and the ship got the green light to connect with the ISS.

The ship approached the ISS and was far from the schedule was captured by the station arm and connected to the Harmony module on May 25, 2012 at 6:02 pm. It was a phenomenal success. The first private spacecraft, launched by a private rocket, successfully anchored at the International Space Station and imported its 500 kg heavy cargo of food, clothing and supplies. SpaceX was the first to prove it. But this is just the beginning of her journey. The company's plans are far-reaching. The closest include the regular supply of ISS and the further development of the Dragon ship so that it could once take out astronauts.

On May 31, 2012 Dragon was disconnected and launched on the way back.After nine days, seven hours and fifty-eight minutes, Dragon touched the waters of the Pacific Ocean and ended his 100% successful mission. A ship burned from one side by the fumes brought some scientific experiments from the ISS and its photos circled the world. For SpaceX it was a success, for humanity it may mean that the gates of the universe are opening again to a larger group of people.

However, SpaceX has stopped working. Currently, the first real supply mission is planned, when its full capacity for cargo transportation will be used. The ship can carry up to six tons of cargo and carry up to three tons on Earth. The first supply mission is called SpX-1.

The ship has two types of cargo hold. The first - hermetized is located directly in the conical capsule and, besides containers for the transport of common material, is also equipped with cooling bags, which allow both transporting things that need cold and scientific experiments. The second, unhermeted space is located in the rear of the assembly in the superstructure called Trunk, on which the solar panels are located. This superstructure is essentially a hollow cylinder which allows the load to be filled and can then be unloaded at the station by means of a stationary arm.

The launch of the SpX-1 mission is expected to arrive on October 8, 2012 after some clarifications and delays, but there will probably be some delays. The specimen of the ship to be completed this flight arrived in Florida on August 14, and its final preparations and testing for the flight are currently underway.Charles Bolden, the current NASA director, visited the SpaceX production hall on August 23, where he signed the last necessary documents to enable the first supply flight to the ISS, completing the administrative process that preceded the final approval of the mission. It is still not certain what the ship will carry on the station, the list is still waiting to be published. The most recent event is the erection of Falcon9, which will serve the mission SpX-1 and 31 August 2012 was a trial of all missile systems, simulating all the actions that take place before the actual launch.

This mission could easily be called a routine, but it is definitely not. The ship has only gone two years and, while totally impressed with its performance and reliability, there is still a great risk that something may come up that complicates the mission. But we will keep our fingers crossed for SpaceX's ability to interrupt the last-minute launch and repair potential damage, continue to celebrate success, and the upcoming mission is great. With each Dragon's flight, the universe becomes more accessible.

[](https://i1.wp.com/www.kosmonautix.cz/wp-content/uploads/SpaceX-Wants-to-Go-to-Mars-2.jpg)

Maybe the future of the Dragon.   
Source: Universetoday.com

And we certainly have something to look forward to. SpaceX has already enticed us several times with her hints of what she would like to plan for the future. The closest realization is to upgrade an existing ship so that it can land using SuperDraco rocket engines, the ship would land directly on Earth, without a parachute. Along with this, the Falcon9 itself should undergo modification, which would become more usable and its price would fall again slightly. The next step will be to customize the ship for human crew flights. Furthermore, the Red Dragon project, which aims to modify the existing ship so that with one ton of cargo to reach Mars, land and be prepared as a food store for a possible expedition to Mars. The Falcon rocket itself will continue to evolve; the Falcon Heavy variant is to use three standard Falcon9 rockets combined into a bundle. The carrier would thus achieve an impressive 53 tons in low orbit.

We will talk about all these projects in a separate article sometime in the future.


	2. To Pluto and beyond

_September 6,2012_

The New Frontires program was announced by NASA in 2003. The goal is to explore the Solar System with medium-cost probes. (costs do not exceed $ 700 million) The program builds on the highly successful Discovery and Explorer programs. Today we will look at the New Horizons mission, which is the first to visit the dwarf planet Pluto and its moons. In the coming days, we will introduce the Juno spacecraft, which is already on its way to Jupiter. Finally, let's take a look at the OSIRIS-REx mission, which prepares for a journey to the asteroid from which it takes a piece of rock and sends it back to Earth.

**New Horizons**   
New Horizons is an American planetary probe designed to explore the dwarf planet Pluto and its moons. The spacecraft is due to arrive at Pluto in June 2015, becoming the first visitor to this dwarf planet.

New Horizons kicked off on January 19, 2006 from Cape Canaveral. After disconnecting the last stage, the probe moved at a speed of 16.26 km / s (58,536 km / h). It thus became the fastest moving artificial cosmic body in the Earth's gravitational field. Under these conditions, he will cross the Moon's orbit 9 hours after launch, cross the orbit of Mars in 3 months, and fly past Jupiter in 13 months.   
The probe is in hibernation state for most of the flight time. This means that the cost of flight operations will be reduced and the capacity of the Deep Space Network (DNS) link network will be minimized. The orientation of the probe will be maintained by rotation at a speed of 5 rpm with a parabolic antenna directed to Earth. Once a year, the probe is awakened from hibernation. During this period, the antenna survey, track correction, periodic system checks and instrument calibration will be checked. The first such inspection took place half a year after Jupiter's flight. Scientific instruments will launch a survey of the Pluto system six months before the closest approach. Three months before arrival, at a distance of about 100 million km, the spacecraft's cameras will be able to take the first maps of the cosmic bodies. Pluto rotates around the axis in 6.4 days.The last four days before arrival, Pluto and Charon will be photographed and measured by spectrometers every twelve hours. In addition to topographic purposes, this series of images is intended to capture possible short-term changes associated with the planet's weak atmosphere.   
New Horizons arrives at Pluto on July 14, 2015 and misses the planet over the southern hemisphere. The maximum approach will be 10 thousand. km from Pluto and 27 ths. km from Charon. The probe flies through the system at 14 km / s. After passing around Pluto, the spacecraft will further explore one or two objects from the Kuiper Belt 50-100 km in diameter. The spacecraft will continue further into the Kuiper belt space and then into the interstellar space. New Horizons received a speed greater than the escape rate from the Solar System.Like Pioneer and Voyager, they will never return to our system.

**Probe instruments**

**High Resolution LORRI (Long Range Reconnaissance Imager)**   
The main task of the LORRI narrow-angle camera is to take pictures of the Pluto-Charon system from a distance. In addition, the camera should be able to visually document the surface of Pluto at a time interval of 3.2 days before and after the maximum approach. LORRI is on the opposite side of the nuclear power source.

**Ralph camera system**   
The system consists of two parts - multispectral camera MVIC and infrared spectrometer LEISA. The main task of these devices is to produce high-resolution color maps and maps of the chemical composition of the Pluto and Charon surfaces. The result should be a four-color daytime map with a resolution of 0.7 km / pixel, a multi-spectrum daytime map in the near infrared area of 7 km / pixel, and a map of selected areas with a resolution of 0.6 km / pixel. In addition, Ralph should determine the ice distribution and temperature distribution on the day side of the planet.

**Ultraviolet imaging spectrometer Alice.**   
Alice is an ultraviolet mapping spectrometer. It is designed to study the atmosphere of the planet Pluto. The scientific goal is to determine the molar fraction of N2, CH4, CO and Ar in the atmosphere, to measure the temperature profile of the upper atmosphere, to investigate the Pluto-Charon system for lyman-alpha hydrogen emissions, and to study mass transfer between Pluto and Charon. The Alice instrument is also to be used to search for the atmosphere around the moon of Charon and the objects of the Kuiper Belt that it may eventually encounter.

**SDC dust particle detector **This device was designed by students and measures the concentration of dust particles in the outer areas of the solar system. During the flight, the detector was renamed VBSDC (Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter), or Venetia for short, in honor of a student who in 1930 suggested a name for a newly discovered planet.

**SWAP solar wind detector**   
It is designed to measure solar wind particles near Pluto, which should determine whether Pluto has a magnetosphere and determine the escape of atmospheric particles into space.


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